Hello again, readers. Glad to see everyone is enjoying this story so far. I want to thank you guys so much reading and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Disney
Chapter 7: Hope or Despair?
Xion opened her eyes slowly after being asleep for a long time. The haziness in her eyes soon faded away to see dozens of houses and buildings that were broken into multiple blue pieces, however, they also appeared to be frozen in time. There was also no light coming from the sky; only darkness.
"Glad to see you're awake," A voice said.
Xion turned towards the direction of the voice to see Terra and Ventus. Terra was crouching down with his Keyblade in hand, while also keeping a look out for something. Ventus was still lying on the ground in a comatose state.
"Terra? What happened? Where are we?" Xion asked with twenty questions still going through her head.
"I'll answer your questions in order. When Sora summoned that vortex, we were sucked in along with the rest of Radiant Garden. I don't know how long you've been asleep because you can't tell time here, but it has been for a while. Right now, we are trapped in the Realm of Darkness and taking shelter in the remains of Radiant Garden," Terra explained.
Xion was shocked and sad to see that the once great city has now become nothing but pieces of what it once was.
"We have to stop Sora, Terra. If we don't, he will destroy the entire realm of light until there is nothing left," Xion said, with determination in her voice. Terra nodded his head in agreement.
They suddenly heard movement and wings flapping in the air, making them turn towards a window to see the Heartless mobilizing towards a certain direction. One Darkside came close to stepping on the house they were hiding in, but missed it by a few feet.
"We can't stay here anymore; we have to find a way out and warn the remaining worlds," Terra stated. Xion nodded. However, before they can move out; three figures appeared before them. Two of the figures were Sora and Kairi, before they succumbed to darkness. The third figure looked like what Sora looked like as he is in the darkness, except his hair was black and he didn't have a cape. Though it seemed Terra quickly recognized the third figure because he quickly stood up in front of Ventus and summoned his Keyblade.
"Vanitas?! What are you doing here? What about you two? Is this some sort of trick?" Terra yelled at the three of them in anger.
"Cool it rockhead, we aren't here to fight. The three of us are just phantoms of our former selves," Vanitas replied. Xion pushed Terra's Keyblade down to the ground.
"How can we trust you three?" Xion asked.
"The Kairi and me you are seeing right now are what's left of the light in their hearts and we are slowly being destroyed by the second. We don't have much time left, but when we sensed your lights enter the realm, we had to meet up with you," Phantom Sora explained.
"And what about you?" Terra said to Vanitas.
"I have been in Ventus heart for all this time until Sora forced his heart out and has chained it up in his castle. I then sensed that Ventus body was here and I came here with these two," Vanitas said, while gesturing towards Sora and Kairi.
"I see," Xion said. There could still be some hope for everybody. She turned towards Phantom Sora and Kairi and asked if they can still be saved.
"Yes, they can, but it is very difficult. You have to weaken them to the point where you can enter their heart and destroy the darkness that is overcoming their hearts. But like Sora said, we don't have much time left until we are fully overcome, then saving them will be impossible," Phantom Kairi explained sadly. Xion almost burst into tears, while Terra was trying to think of some other way.
"There has to be some other way to-" Terra said, but Sora interrupted him, "I'm sorry Terra, but there is no other way."
"How much time do they have left?" Xion asked.
"A few days, at least. By that time their hearts will be completely overcome and will no longer be able to come back from the darkness," Phantom Sora explained.
"I do have some good news though," Vanitas said.
"What is it?" Terra asked.
"Ventus's heart is in the castle Sora and Kairi are staying in. It's locked somewhere in the dungeon and is being held by dark chains. In order to free his heart, you have to find a way in and destroy the chains, then his heart will return to him," Vanitas replied.
"Thank you, Vanitas, but why are you helping us now? Why not earlier?" Terra asked.
"All I wanted was to return to where I came from, but back then, Xehanort convinced me that the only way to do that was to summon the X-blade. I learned that I didn't have to do that at all, Ventus just needed to destroy me in order for me to return back to his heart. Now I know right from wrong and now Ventus needs help," Vanitas said.
"Thank you, guys for explaining everything to us. Now we know what to do," Xion said, now knowing what needs to be done in order to save everyone. However, the Phantoms started to fade in and out of existence.
"We're outta of time. You guys need to hurry to the castle; follow the heartless, they'll lead you to it. Now hurr-" Sora said before disappearing along with Kairi and Vanitas.
Terra and Xion only watched in sadness as the phantoms fully disappeared into specks of light. Terra then picked Ventus up and nodded to Xion, who nodded back to him in confirmation. The two then started to make their way to the castle, while also trying to avoid any confrontation with the heartless.
(Later)
Terra and Xion finally made it to the castle. They were laying down on top of a hill that overlooked the castle, so that they could check the security and try to find a way in. Though not only did the castle have the normal twenty heartless on guard, a huge army of heartless were mobilizing in front of the castle.
"Well we definitely aren't walking through the front door now," Terra said.
"There has to be another way," Xion said thinking.
"I have a way," A voice said behind them. They didn't have time to turn around until they felt something hit the back of their heads and everything went black.
(Later)
Xion groggily opened her eyes slowly. The last thing she remembered was seeing the castle and thinking of a way to get in until something hit her on the back of the head. She tried to move her arms and legs but found that she couldn't move. She looked down to see that her arms and legs were chained to the wall by dark chains, which stopped her from summoning her Keyblades or use magic. She looked to her right and left to see Terra and Ventus in the same predicament, though Terra seemed to be waking up at the same time she did.
"Terra are you okay?" Xion asked, still a bit groggy.
"Ughh...what happened?" He asked tiredly.
"I can answer that for you," A voice said in front of them.
Xion looked to see Sora and Kairi walk up to them with Yuffie behind them with her weapon out. That is when Xion got to see the throne chambers. The walls were black with red accents along with the pillars. Two statues that resembled Sora and Kairi were in the corners and two demon looking thrones were in the middle of the room.
"How did you find us, Sora?" Terra asked.
"It wasn't hard, the light you three gave off was like a beacon for us to get you," Sora explained. He then turned towards Kairi.
"And now that the guests of honor are here, it's time I gave you that gift I was talking about earlier," Sora said. Kairi started to really excited.
"Let them in," Sora ordered to the guards at the door. As soon as they were open, two small blurs came flying out from the door and into Kairi's lap, all the while tackling her to the ground.
"Mommy!" Was the only thing that was heard from the small blurs.
When Kairi finally looked up she saw two three-year old girls hugging her and calling her mommy over and over. As she got a closer look, she saw that one of them looked like Aqua, except her hair was now red like Kairi's, her outfit was red, and her eyes were yellow, while the other looked like Aerith, but her hair was white like Sora's, her outfit was black and her eyes were also yellow.
"Sora?" She asked, while hugging the girls back.
"I knew you wanted a family, when I planted the seed of darkness on your heart. I saw that was one of the things you desired in life. So, when I captured Aerith, I decided to turn her and Aqua into children for us to raise together," Sora explained.
"What did you do to them, Sora? What did you do to Aqua?!" Terra yelled in anger.
"Well..."
(Flashback: Laboratory)
Aerith's eyes opened to find herself in some sort of glass pod. She tried to break out, but found that the glass was stronger. She then started to look around the room to see that it was some sort of laboratory and there was another woman along with her, though it seemed that she was asleep. She remembers seeing the woman when she was a child back in Radiant Garden, but she never learned who she was.
"Glad to see that you are awake," Sora's voice said. Aerith turned to see him standing in front of the pod with a smile on his face.
"Sora, where are we and what's going on?" She asked.
"We are in the bottom level of our castle and also, the lab as well. Only I know about the lab, because I didn't want Kairi to find my surprise. And guess what, Aerith? You and Aqua over there are the surprise," Sora replied, with happiness.
"What? What would Kairi want with us?" She asked in confusion.
"Watch Aqua's pod and you'll see," He gestured to the other pod. Aerith turned to the pod and saw darkness get poured into it. It didn't take long until the pod was completely filled. When the darkness finally cleared Aerith gasped in shock and fear. Aqua was now a three-year old with red hair and red accents on her outfit. and was still sleeping, though she was now curled into a ball on the floor of the pod.
"Oh, my goodness. What did you do to her?" She asked in fear.
Sora walked over to the pod and crouched down in front of it. "I simply used the darkness to change Aqua into a child, to the point where she will depend on me and Kairi," he explained while tapping on the glass in order to wake Aqua up. When she did, she quickly stood up and put her hands on the glass where Sora was.
"Daddy? What's going on?" She asked in a confused tone.
Sora placed his hand where Aqua's hand was. "Don't worry honey. You'll be out in a second, but first I have to get your sister ready. Then we can go surprise Mommy, okay?" Aqua nodded her head very quickly in anticipation.
"It's your turn, Aerith. Soon you will join our family. You should be happy," Sora said with a smile on his face. But Aerith wasn't happy, she was almost about to burst into tears about what was going to happen to her now. But she didn't have time to beg to Sora to stop, because darkness quickly started to pour into her pod and everything went black for her.
(Present: Throne Room)
"Now you known, Terra," Sora replied.
Terra's face was frozen with a mixture of shock, confusion, despair, and fear. Seeing what Sora did to Aqua and Aerith nearly crushed his heart, because he deeply cared for Aqua and even though he just met Aerith, he cared for her like any new friend would. Xion was also sad; she remembered seeing Aqua in one of Sora's memories when he was a child, so she knew who she was when she saw Aqua. She also felt the same thing Terra felt for Aqua.
"Sora if Aqua and Aerith are going to be our children, then we should give them new names. I think for Aqua it should be Scarlett and for Aerith it should be Ava. What do ya think?" She asked.
"I love the names, Kairi. Scarlett and Ava then," Sora replied.
"Mommy, Daddy! Can we go play with the heartless please?" Scarlett asked with Ava jumping up down with her.
"Of course, you can. Just don't play with the big ones, alright," Kairi stated. "Yay!" The two girls celebrated before running off with the smaller heartless. Kairi then tackled Sora in a bear hug, thanking him over and over.
"Your welcome, my love. I knew it was what you wanted when you became my queen," Sora stated. Kairi simply snuggled closer to him in affection. Sora then turned to the Heartless, "Take the prisoners to the dungeons. My queen and I will attend to the army and prepare for the next world we will destroy," he ordered, before moving to leave with Kairi. The Heartless nodded its head before activating the trap door underneath Terra and Xion and releasing the chains, sending them tumbling down to the dungeons along with Ventus's body. As soon as they landed in their cells, their hands and feet were immediately bound in dark chains.
"Terra...Terra can you hear me?" Xion asked, trying to reach her comrade. Terra had his head down in shame, he failed to save Aqua and now she has become a child to Sora, he failed to save Ventus, who may remain as he his forever now, and he has failed as a Keyblade Wielder in general. Which is why he wasn't answering Xion due to him wallowing in his own failure.
"Terra, look I know how you are feeling right now, you feel like you failed everyone. But you haven't yet. We can still save Ventus and the Realm of Light," Xion said trying to inspire hope.
"How Xion? We couldn't save Radiant Garden, we couldn't save Aqua and Aerith, and we can't even save Ventus because we can't summon our Keyblades. I'm sorry Xion, but there is just no hope left," Terra said in shame.
"Stop taking yourself down Terra. Do you remember what the Phantoms said? We can still save Sora and Kairi and I think the same rules apply to Aqua and Aerith. Vanitas also said that Ventus's heart is somewhere in... the dungeon!" She said realizing that Ventus heart was in one of the cells. "Terra, Ventus's heart is somewhere in here! Start looking for it. When Terra heard that, hope sparkled in his eyes and he started looking for it. He then saw a light two cells away from him.
"I found it, Xion. But we have to get out of these chains first," he said while struggling to get out of the chains just by force.
"I can't. These things are tough," she replied. Though something incredible happened next, Ventus's body summoned his Keyblade and sent it flying to where Xion was. Xion closed her eyes waiting for the painful impact, but then felt the chains go loose before falling off completely. The same thing happened for Terra, as well. Xion and Terra then summoned their Keyblades and destroyed the doors to their cells. Xion then destroyed the cell that was holding Ventus's body while Terra destroyed the door and chains that were holding his heart. As soon as it was free, his heart then went flying to his body and entered it. Ventus's eyes slowly opened up before Terra bear hugged him.
"Ventus! You're okay," Terra said with tears threatening to start pouring out.
"Terra is that you, man?" Ventus asked in a groggy voice.
"Yeah Ven it's me," Terra confirmed. Ven happily returned the hug. Xion was happy to see two friends, more likely brothers, finally reunite after many years. So, she let the moment last as long as she can.
"Oh, Ven I want you to meet my friend who helped me find you," he said while moving out of the way so Ventus can see Xion.
"Hi, I'm Xion. As Terra said, I helped him find and safe you," she said while holding out her hand.
"Nice to finally meet you. I'm Ventus, but call me Ven for short," he stated while shaking her hand.
"What has happened while was locked here? Cause the last thing I remember was Sora forcing me out of his heart," Ventus asked.
"He has destroyed Radiant Garden and everyone there and has turned Aqua into a three-year old child, though I don't know what else he has done before that," Terra answered.
"I can answer that. Before he forced me out, he destroyed Disney Castle, destroyed Xehanort and the seekers of darkness, and turned most of the Guardians of Light into Heartless," Ventus said sadly, especially when he heard what happened to Aqua.
However, they had to stop their conversation, due to the sound of dozen of Heartless coming down in order to stop them.
"Oh no, we got company. Ventus can you fight?" Xion asked. Ventus shook his no due to just recovering from a decade long comatose state. Upon seeing that Terra quickly opened a portal that he used whenever he was done with a world.
"Everyone jump in, it won't stay open forever," Terra said before jumping in. Xion and Ventus quickly followed suit before the portal closed.
Sora marched down into the dungeon when the heartless reported about hearing some commotion going on. As soon as he saw the prisoners were gone, he almost came close to punching a dungeon door off its hinges, though he kept himself calm. "Darn it. They'll most likely mess up some of my plans, but it won't matter, they will fall along with the Realm of Light. For now, I must attend to my family and army," he stated before heading back up to the surface.
(Meanwhile)
Terra, Xion, and Ventus landed face first on some sort of cobblestone ground. They slowly looked up to see themselves in some sort of town. They were two streetlamps that were in front of them, a café to their left, an item store to their upper left, and an accessory shop directly ahead of them.
"I wonder what world we are in now?" Xion asked.
"I don't know. I didn't have time to choose a specific location and all safe worlds are almost destroyed by now," Terra said.
"Well we might as well look around," Ventus said before walking forward. However, another voice froze everyone where they were.
"Do you guys always talk so loud?" The voice said. Everyone looked around until they looked up. The voice came from a boy who was sitting on the railing on top of the café. The boy had a similar look to Sora, but how he dressed easily gave it away. He has spikey orange hair, blue eyes, a pair of purple colored headphones on his head, he is wearing a purple-grey shirt with a high collar and white shorts. The boy jumped down from the railing and landed in front of the group.
"Hi I'm Ventus, but people call me Ven. This is Terra and Xion. Who are you?" Ventus said, while gesturing to Terra and Xion and extended his hand toward the boy.
"Neku Sakuraba and sorry I don't do handshakes," Neku said.
"Oh, okay. So Neku what is this place," Ventus said while putting his hand down.
"Your new here aren't you?" Neku asked. The trio nodded. Neku walked a bit towards the accessory shop with his hands in his pocket. "This is Traverse Town," he said.
And I'm going to end it here. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and come back for the next one where the last of our heroes explore Traverse Town. Until then hope you guys are enjoying your summer. Peace.